Last time we talked about the main NPCs in our campaign, the dynamic duo of Space Marines Buddy and Jennifer. They have seen a lot of action and been a great way to get some other folks into a game at the table from time to time, including my daughter AJ.

But today I want to talk about our technician, Sean Samsonite (SS). Sean is played by John, who happened to be the very first player in this playtest group when we started back in August 2017. And he is quite a character.

3. Sean Samsonite, Dominion Technician

Sean started simply, with a couple of traits: Bits & Bytes and Robotics. His goal was to build better and better drones and he’s definitely achieved that in the several months we’ve been playing. Right off the bat, he created a robotic buddy for himself and charged into the very first adventure while riding on top of the drone on the moon. (Yes, I told you he was a character!)

Since then he has hacked in and out of alien bases, but is always on the hunt for new technology to use in his next project. And that passion has been used to select new traits as John leveled the character up.

Robotics Savant was taken to improve his drone companions even further, gaining an additional trait beyond what was allowed at the character’s current level. (At level 3, his drone could have 4 drone traits instead of just 3.)

He took Languages so he could learn some of the Galactic language he’d encountered when facing the Grey Men. Not being able to decipher buttons or keys was less of a problem as he gained more proficient in deciphering alien writing.

Then he developed a desire for cybernetic enhancements after meeting some of the Neogen androids and decided to take the Biology trait so he could marry his technological skills with some medical ones to hack his own body over time.

And since then he’s taken Armor, Exoskeleton, and Mechanized Armor to combine a loose collection of drones into a robotic suit of armor that he could pilot directly or remotely when the need arose.

Each step along the way has made him more efficient in improving his technology and interacting with alien toys found on other worlds.

Oh, and did I mention that he’s afraid of space ghosts? Our tinkerer is convinced that there are space ghosts around every spooky corner, though he hasn’t confirmed that quite yet. He has encountered a few things on other worlds and orbiting stations that seemed at first to be ghost-like, but he’s disproved them thus far. Someday, perhaps.

Next time we’ll talk about our medic, Dr. Stone, and some of her unique trait choices!